Who is What
by Nelowl
Summary: Carson is brought back from a mission, deeply unconscious.  Noone knows exactly what happened to him – not even Carson himself.  As Rodney, John and the others try to piece together what happened, Carson’s behaviour starts to worry his friends.  Just what
1. Chapter 1

_It's been a while, but here is a new story. As with all the others, it's centred on Carson, but everybody else plays there part too. It is set before "Sunday" (obviously) and there may be spoilers up to that episode – but I'll warn you before each chapter if there is._

_As with most of my stories, I'll rate this one a K+ as there is likely to be some whumpage involved. _

_This story was inspired by two contacts I have. One was a message I received from a military nurse who was serving in Afghanistan. She asked if I could write a good part for a nurse. Jenny Martin is for her. The idea for the story evolved from a comment by Dr Dredd - but I won't say exactly what as that might give too much away._

_As always, I don't own the characters – I just borrow them from time to time. They are such fun to play with._

_Here's a brief synopsis – Carson is brought back from a mission, deeply unconscious. No-one knows exactly what happened to him – not even Carson himself. As Rodney, John and the others try to piece together what happened, Carson's behaviour starts to worry his friends. Just what happened to him?_

oOoOoOo

He tried to open his eyes but it took more effort than he could spare. They felt as if they were glued together, and then sutured for good measure. He tried again. Vaguely, in the background he could hear a gentle voice urging him to open his eyes. He wanted to please the voice. He liked the voice. It was a friendly voice. But his eyes just wouldn't oblige. So he gave up the unequal battle, and let the darkness claim him again.

oOoOoOo

"Oh, Carson. What will we do with you?" The "voice" was filled with affectionate exasperation.

"He's still not awake?"

Elizabeth Weir entered the Infirmary again. She'd been in and out since her Chief Medical Officer had been brought back to Atlantis deeply unconscious but otherwise unhurt.

"No, but he has been trying to open his eyes."

"If anyone can persuade him, Jenny, it's you."

"Thank you, Dr Weir."

The nurse allowed herself to smile briefly before the worried frown returned to her face. She was fond of her boss and she didn't like to see him lying there, unresponsive. Although she hadn't been assigned to Atlantis for long, Jenny Martin had grown to love the place and was developing friendships with many of the personnel, including her boss.

"It's his stubborn streak."

"Hello, Rodney," Elizabeth replied, turning to smile at the scientist who'd just joined them.

"He is stubborn." The scientist seemed determined to make his point. "He isn't going to wake up, because he knows we want him to."

"Of course, Rodney."

Elizabeth and Jenny shared a grin.

"Now, Dr McKay," the nurse said, briskly. "Why don't you go and read to Dr Beckett. He enjoys that."

Elizabeth hid her smile as Rodney complied with Jenny's request, seemingly pleased to be given something useful to do. Rodney had haunted the Infirmary almost as much as she had. And his team-mates would probably not be far behind him.

Carson had been on a mission with them when he had taken ill. They seemed to share a sense of mutual guilt about the doctor's plight.

"How is he?"

Elizabeth turned to smile at her military commander. John Sheppard stood at the door, leaning against the frame, a worried look filling his eyes.

"He's been trying to open his eyes."

"That's good."

"Yes." She paused for a moment before continuing. "It wasn't your fault, John."

"I know," he replied, but his voice lacked conviction.

"Do you?"

"It was my job to protect him, Elizabeth. That's what I do. And I failed."

"We all failed." Ronon joined them, his voice rumbling through the Infirmary.

"Can we keep the noise down, please," Rodney piped up. "Reading here. And negativity is bad for a patient."

John and Elizabeth exchanged an amused smile. The voice was Rodney's, but the words were definitely Carson's. They'd heard him say the same thing so many times.

"He'll make it," John said, trying to take the haunted look from Elizabeth's eyes.

She just nodded in response.

"What happened on that planet?" She'd been so busy since the team had returned with an unconscious Carson, dealing with a trade delegation from one of the Athosians' trading partners, as well as hovering around Carson, that she'd not had time to de-brief the team.

The three of them looked at each other, before John cleared his throat.

"It all seemed to be going fine." Teyla and Ronon both nodded in agreement.

"The people we met seemed friendly and non-threatening," the Athosian added her agreement.

"Only weapons were primitive."

Elizabeth smiled at Ronon's typically to the point observation.

"Then how did Carson end up like that?"

"The doc went off with some of the villagers who had some kind of fluey thing." John tried to explain.

"Is that a medical term?"

That earned her a sardonic look from her military commander.

"Carson was eager to help the villagers," Teyla added. "It was not only their weapons that were primitive."

"So was he attacked? Or was it the virus the villagers had?"

Her questions were answered by three shrugs.

"He just seemed to collapse," John offered. "We were walking back to the Puddle Jumper and one minute he was walking along, arguing with Rodney, and the next he was lying on the ground, like that." He indicated the prone figure of the Scot lying passively as Rodney's voice droned on.

"D'you want us to go back, ask around?"

Elizabeth looked at the tall Satedan as she considered his suggestion.

"No." She shook her head for emphasis. "Until we know what's wrong with Carson, I don't want anyone else exposed to whatever it is."

Ronon nodded his agreement with her decision.

"Carson!" Rodney's cry rang out through the Infirmary. "You're awake. What happened? What did they do to you? How are you feeling? Did they drug you?"

"Whit?" The doctor's blue eyes were as confused as his question.

"Relax, Carson," Jenny Martin's soothing voice intervened. "You're safe in your Infirmary. Just settle down."

Her words were accompanied by her best quelling look directed at Rodney.

"Thanks, Jenny, lass," Carson replied settling down onto the bed again. His eyes started to flutter shut again as fatigue swept over him.

"Carson." Elizabeth's voice brought Carson back, at least momentarily. He forced his eyes open and looked up into her face. He was aware the others there too, but it took all his energy to focus on Elizabeth.

"Carson, do you remember what happened?"

He frowned as he tried to frame an answer to her question.

"On a planet," he said after a moment. "Villagers were sick. Felt lousy. Don't remember more."

"That's alright." Elizabeth squeezed his hand as she spoke. "You rest now and when you're feeling better, then we can talk again."

Carson smiled. He felt so tired, but somewhere, deep at the back of his mind, he felt an excitement. He wasn't sure why – but he felt invigorated, alive and free even as his weariness grew.

Carson started to nod, but his eyes were shut before he'd completed the movement. Elizabeth smiled as she released his hand.

"What did happen to him?" she asked, looking round at the others.

None of them could answer.

From the door, a noise drew their attention. They turned as a group to face Dr Cole, one of Carson's colleagues. She held a wad of notes in her hand.

"What's wrong with him?" Rodney demanded.

"I'm afraid I don't know. We've run all the tests we can think of and there is nothing medically wrong with him."

"Then why is he lying there, barely able to open his eyes?" Anxiety made Rodney's question harsher than he intended. But he wasn't going to admit that. He let a challenging look enter his eyes as he stared at the young medic.

"The only thing we found which was slightly unusual was the increased brain activity."

"What does that suggest?" Elizabeth's question was much gentler than Rodney's.

"I wish I knew," Dr Cole admitted. "We only found it when we used the Ancient scanner. And we still can't always interpret the readings from it accurately. Carson is best at it." As she turned and looked at her boss, a sigh escaped from her lips.

"So what can you do?" John asked.

"Watch him, make him comfortable, and pray he comes out of it without any permanent damage."


	2. Symptoms

In his dreams he returned to the planet. The sun shone weakly in the sky, giving off a glowing light but not touching the iciness that clung to the trees. He could see the cold mist that gathered over the hills before rolling into the valley below. He could feel the chilled, damp air as he inhaled. It felt as if little icicles were stabbing him from his throat to his lungs with every breath he took.

He tucked his fingers under his jacket, trying to prevent them from becoming clumsy with the cold. He had a job to do. But it was more than just a job, it was a vocation. He needed to heal people, or at least to try to alleviate their suffering. No matter what it cost him to do it. So what was a little bit of frostbite when the welfare of others was at stake?

Carson chuckled to himself. That made him seem very noble. But the Scot knew he was no better or worse than the next man. He just had this compulsion to heal.

The scene shifted with the speed reserved for dreams or nightmares. He was in a cold dark place, dripping with damp. There was no light, only an all pervading darkness. He reached out to explore his surroundings, but his hands had turned into strange star-like tentacles. They were sensitive to the point of being painful. He found hard, sharp-edge rocks. The ground was uneven and strewn with rocks too. He took a few tentative steps forward. Then found himself falling, falling, falling . . . .

The next moment, he was lying on a bed, the sights and sounds and smells of suffering all around him. He glanced to his left and a woman was vomiting violently. To his right, a man was shivering while at the same time sweat was pouring off his body. All around him, people were working, trying to help the patients. None of them seemed familiar to him.

Someone approached him, a needle in their hand. Panic took hold of his body. He didn't know this person. He didn't trust this person. He didn't know what was in the syringe. He struggled, he kicked, he threw off the bed clothes. But the other person was stronger than him, and before Carson could escape he felt the sharp pain of a needle being stabbed into his arm, before his dream faded into oblivion.

oOoOoOo

"How is he?" Elizabeth asked Jenny as she entered the Infirmary.

"He's still unconscious, but I think he's been dreaming."

"Why is that?"

"Well, let's see," Jenny counted out the examples on her fingers. "Firstly, he started shivering as if he was cold, and tucked his hands under his blanket. Then he started chuckling."

Elizabeth smiled.

"He started reaching out, with both his hands and his feet, then it was if he was panicking. He started looking round, and thrashing around. We gave him a sedative, but that took all Fergus' strength to do that."

Jenny pointed to one of the new doctor's who was looked more like a bouncer than a doctor.

Elizabeth's eyebrows shot up as she looked at the large doctor. He could even give Ronon a run for his money.

"He's stronger than he looks," the big medic remarked with a grin.

"Ah, Elizabeth, there you are!" Rodney's voice carried across the length of the Infirmary, taking no account of the patients trying to rest there.

Trailing behind the scientist were Drs Cole and Zelenka.

"How can I help you, Rodney?"

"It's us that can help you, or more accurately, help Carson. Well, at least we think we can help Carson. We can at least help get some sort of treatment started."

"I found similarities between Carson's brain activity and those of someone infected by a nanite virus." It was Zelenka who made the claim, obviously pleased he had beaten his colleague to the discovery.

Rodney looked annoyed and irritated.

"You mean like I was?" Elizabeth asked, a worried frown on her face as she turned to look at Carson. She shuddered, remembering the nightmare of the time where she thought she was on Earth, going mad.

"Not exactly," Rodney replied. "There are similarities, but there are subtle differences. I believe whatever is causing this in Carson is not manmade or artificial, but organic."

Radek opened his mouth to continue what was obviously an on-going argument.

"So does this help us to treat Carson?" Elizabeth's question forestalled the argument, at least for the time being.

"Not exactly." Dr Cole joined in the discussion for the first time. "We need to continue to monitor Carson's brain activity. He is still mostly unconscious, but it is not such a deep level of unconsciousness. And he is having more moments of lucidity. We need to see if there is any sort of pattern to this, and at the same time, we're trying to determine what the progression of the virus is."

"Keep working on it." With those words, Elizabeth left the scientists to their argument and the doctor to her investigations.

It was times like this, she felt useless. She knew that her role was important to Atlantis. She'd had to resolve numerous crises over her time there. But in situations like this, she wished that her expertise was of a more practical nature. She wished she could "do" something to help Carson. But she had to leave the "doing" to others and trust in the fact that she'd chosen the best people for the job in the first place. With a sigh, she headed for her office.

oOoOoOo

"Jenny." His voice was weak, little more than a whisper.

"Carson." Her voice was strong, reassuring.

"What is happening to me?"

"We don't know yet, but there are a lot of people trying to find out. Dr McKay, Dr Zelenka, Dr Cole."

Carson gave a gentle chuckle. "Have Rodney and Radek fallen out yet?"

"Do you mean in the last half hour?"

Carson chuckled again, but the chuckle turned into a cough. Jenny eased him up and gave him a sip of water.

"I keep having these dreams. I'm frightened in them. And I don't know why I'm afraid. Sometimes I me, sometimes I'm someone else, seeing things through another eyes – a lot of others' eyes. Like I'm watching a film, but it doesn't make sense . . . " His voice trailed off as he slipped back into his troubled sleep again.

oOoOoOo

Elizabeth was trawling her way through the numerous reports that seemed to find their way onto her desk. She liked to be aware of everything that was going on in the city, but sometimes it could be tedious. A report on the intricacies of underwater currents in the far side of the planet was not the most riveting of reads.

"Elizabeth!"

She looked up to see John Sheppard standing in the doorway. Just behind him were Teyla and Ronon. She could tell by the sombre expressions on each of their faces that the report they were about to give her would not lift her spirits.

"We contacted the planet again." She knew without John actually saying so that they meant the planet where Carson had taken ill. At the moment, it was the only planet any of them were thinking about.

"We didn't go down there, or anything," he added hastily, when she raised her eyebrows at him. "We spoke to them over the radio link."

"They have had similar cases to Carson's." Teyla came slightly further into the room as she spoke.

"Have they developed a treatment?" Elizabeth tried to keep the hope out of her voice.

"Unfortunately, no." John's words dashed her faint hope. "They've had a number of cases over the years. They seem to be isolated cases, never more than one person affected at a time. They've not been able to find the cause or source of the illness. Any treatments they've tried seem to have failed. Nothing seems to make any difference to the patient."

"And the prognosis?"

"Not good. Some survive, but some don't. They don't know why. They treat them all the same."

"They do not have the technology or the knowledge that we have on Atlantis," Teyla said, trying to find hope in the situation.

"Carson's strong. He can fight this." Ronon joined the conversation for the first time.

Elizabeth nodded, appreciating their attempts to re-assure her.

"Have you told Dr Cole about this yet?"

"Nope, we wanted to tell you first."

Elizabeth nodded at John's remark, before touching her ear-piece.

"Dr Cole, could you report to my office."

"Sorry Dr Weir, I'm afraid I can't!" The medics voice sounded strained and anxious. John and Elizabeth exchanged a worried look. "It's Carson, he's coding"


	3. What was happening to him?

By the time they arrived in the Infirmary, it was a scene of well-organised chaos. A small army of medics surrounded Carson's prone form. Elizabeth looked up at John, and he could see fear in her eyes.

A frightened looking Rodney stood to the side, his back pressed to the wall. The book he'd been reading Carson hung loosely in his hand.

"He's back!" Fergus shouted over the noise of activity.

Elizabeth allowed herself to let out the breath she'd been holding. She wasn't the only one. The team working on Carson seemed to relax almost as one. The tension that had been evident only a moment before was gone, and smiles of relief were exchanged.

Most of the team drifted back to what they'd been doing before Carson's crisis, leaving only Fergus and Jenny Martin. Carson lay between them, motionless but at least still alive. Elizabeth was relieved to see the slight movement of his chest, allowing her to believe that he might just pull through.

Jenny met her glance and gave the Atlantis leader a smile. Elizabeth smiled back, before turning, leaving the medics to get on with their job.

oOoOoOo

A noise at the door caught Elizabeth's attention and turned her thoughts away from the reports she'd been reading for the last couple of hours. Dr Cole was standing there, waiting for Elizabeth to invite her in. With a smile, Elizabeth did just that.

"How is he?" There was no need for the Atlantis' leader to identify who "he" was. There was only one person on both their minds.

"He's doing well," the medic replied.

"But?" Elizabeth could see the concern in the doctor's eyes, even though her words had seemed encouraging.

"That's just it. He shouldn't be doing well." The words came out as a rush, as if the younger woman had been desperate to share her concerns with someone. "OK, at least he shouldn't be doing as well as he is. It's as if he's never been ill."

Elizabeth frowned. "How is that possible? He almost died a few hours ago."

"I know. But all the tests we've carried out show that he is in perfect health. Almost too perfect."

"What does Carson say about it?"

"We haven't told him. Well, we've told him he is fine, but not how fine."

"What do you want to do next?"

The medic shrugged. "To tell you the truth, I haven't a clue. In all my training, all my research and all my clinical experience, I've never seen anything like this. All I can give you is an educated guess."

"And what is your educated guess?"

"Monitor him, let him do some work, but don't let him leave Atlantis, not yet anyway."

"Do you want to keep him in the Infirmary?"

Dr Cole smiled. "It seems Carson likes the Infirmary about as much as Colonel Sheppard and Dr McKay, when he's a patient."

Elizabeth returned the smile. "I see."

"I've agreed that he can return to his room this evening." The young woman's voice betrayed her reluctance to give this agreement.

"Is it safe?"

"There are sensors in Carson's room."

"The system he was working on with Dr McKay?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yes. It's not been perfected yet, but it will allow us to keep an eye on our good Doctor. And check up on how he's doing."

"Keep me posted."

Dr Cole nodded with a smile, before leaving the leader to her reports.

oOoOoOo

"It's not fair!" Rodney was doing a fair imitation of his niece on a bad day.

"And why is it not fair, Rodney?" Carson couldn't hide his amusement at his friend's reaction.

"Well, when I'm ill, you keep me trapped in here for days. But you get to waltz out after being at death's door."

"But I'm a doctor, Rodney."

"So am I!"

"Aye, but I'm a medical doctor."

"And do you think I'd want to be a voodoo doctor. What difference does it make, anyway? You can hardly treat yourself when you're lying on the floor gasping for air."

It was obvious that seeing his friend almost die in front of his eyes had had a big impact on Rodney.

"Don't worry, Rodney." Carson's tone was soothing. "That sensor device you magicked up will keep an eye on me. I'll be as safe as if I were in the Infirmary itself."

"Oh well, then." Rodney's response held a note of self-satisfaction.

"Ready to go then?" John came striding purposefully into the room, swooping down to pick Carson's bag from the floor at the doctor's feet, and then starting towards the door again.

Carson wasn't sure why he needed quite so many people to help him go to his room. He managed it most days all by himself. But when he saw the expressions on his friends' faces, he realised they needed to do this. They needed to be able to help. He noticed it before, when one of them had been very ill. The others all had to "do" something to help.

He smiled quietly to himself. It felt good to be cared for in this way. Even if it was a wee bit annoying at times too. So, he allowed John to carry his bag. He let Rodney bring him a cup of his favourite tea. And when Ronon and Teyla turned up with the Pegasus version of Monopoly, he gladly let them teach him how to play.

"How are you doing, Carson?" It was Elizabeth this time. He'd managed 10 minutes peace and quiet.

"I'm just fine, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth glanced round the room. She noted the bag dropped on the floor beside Carson's bed. She'd last seen it in the Infirmary. The empty tea cup on the table had almost been toppled over by the Pegasus board game that lay beside it.

"You've had a lot of visitors I see."

"Aye," he replied, with a smile.

"Carson . . ." Elizabeth wasn't sure how to ask the question on her lips.

"You want to know what happened to me?" The Scot, as usual, made things easier for her.

"Yes. No-one else seems sure what happened."

"Neither am I, love, I'm afraid." Carson looked at her apologetically. She tried hard to hide her disappointment.

"I remember trying to help those poor people, and then we were heading back to the Jumper. But after that, it's all a bit of a blur."

"And you don't know what made you so ill?"

"No, lass, I don't. It wasn't the same as my patients. The symptoms were quite different."

"Do you think it would be safe to send a team back to Marya to investigate?"

"I don't honestly know." The doctor rubbed his forehead as if he was trying to clear his head. "I want to have a look at some of the test results before I recommend anything."

"And you need to rest," Elizabeth said firmly, regretting having asked the question. She didn't want Carson to start working himself into the ground so soon. But she was worried by the lack of answers. Carson seemed to have recovered. However unless they knew what had caused his collapse, there was always the fear he could collapse again. She didn't want to have to watch the medics fight to save his life for a second time.

She got to her feet, putting a hand on Carson's shoulder to prevent him from rising too.

"And you are to rest," she said, using a tone she'd heard Carson use so often in the past.

"Yes, Mummy," the Scot replied, the hint of a mischievous grin on his face.

She laughed and was still smiling as she reached her office.

oOoOoOo

Carson sat in his room, deep in thought. It was frustrating not to be able to "do" something. Usually when there was a medical puzzle to be solved he was at the heart of it. Well, this time he was at the heart of it, but not in the way that he liked. He liked to the puzzle solver, not to be the puzzle itself.

He had tried to sneak into the labs near the Infirmary, to review the test results. But Dr Cole had spotted him and shooed him out again. It was frustrating. And hidden beneath the frustration was fear. Fear that he could collapse again. Fear that they might not be able to revive him again. Fear that they might not be able to find a cure and that he'd have to live with this uncertainty for the rest of his life – however long that might be.

Sighing, he decided it was time to get a cup of tea and something to eat, to satisfy his rumbling stomach. It might help take his mind of what had happened to him. He glanced at his watch, to see if any of his friends might be free to join him.

Instantly, all thoughts of food vanished from his mind. He stared at his watch again, focussing hard, making sure he'd not made a mistake. Then he hurried over to his computer. Flipping it open, he checked the time on that. It matched the time on his watch.

"What the . . ." he said to himself, in confusion.

Elizabeth had only just left him – or so he thought. But according to his watch, and his computer, 6 hours had passed. But Carson had no recollection of these 6 hours.

What was happening to him?


	4. Hacked

"We've got a problem!" John spoke as he strode into Rodney's lab.

The scientist wasn't in the mood to solve anyone else's problems at that moment. He had a very interesting, complex problem of his own to solve. He continued working at his computer, basically ignoring the military leader.

"Rodney, did you hear me?"

"It's difficult not to when you come hollering in here."

"Well, why didn't you react?"

"Strangely enough, my world doesn't revolve around your problems."

"I never said that it did. But I need your help."

"Of course you do. Everybody needs my help. Radek needs my help to fix the generators. Elizabeth needs my help to sort out the personnel files that have become scrambled. I wouldn't be surprised if Ronon needed my help to devise some sort of fighting program. So why should I stop what I'm doing just because you have a problem?"

"Forgive me Rodney." John's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I forgot how indispensable you are to everyone."

"Hrmph," was Rodney's elegant reply before he settled back down to his work on the computer in front of him.

John remained where he was, leaning against one of the work benches.

"Well, haven't you got something more important to do?" Rodney didn't like being watched.

"Nope," John replied. "I'm just waiting on you finishing up your "vital" work. Then I'm going to ask you to help me find our computer hacker."

"Hacker!" Rodney all but yelped. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Just did,"

"And that is so helpful," the scientist replied scornfully. "Okay, do you want to give me a little bit more information to go on?"

"Last night, some confidential files were accessed – the personnel files that are generally sealed."

"How do you know they were hacked? There are several people who have authorisation to look at these files."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Rodney."

"You're welcome." The scientist deliberately ignored the sarcasm of John's remark.

"So why do you know it wasn't someone who was authorised who looked at the files?"

"Well, Elizabeth and I were together, reviewing some of the mission reports. You were with Radek, fixing the fault with the generator, and that only leaves Carson."

"And he was sleeping like a baby in his room."

John nodded. "So you see, someone must have hacked into the files."

"Why those files?" Rodney was still trying to puzzle out what was going on. "Surely if someone wanted to hack into files, they'd choose security or schematics or weapon?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. All these files deal with are personal details of the people here. Elizabeth suggested it might be someone interested in blackmail. Apparently something like that happened when she was working for the UN."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Can't you sort of persuade the computer to tell you who accessed the files?"

"Persuade the computer?" Rodney spluttered. "What do you think I'm going to do – sweet-talk it?"

"Does that mean you can't do it?"

"Of course I can. It's not exactly difficult to do."

"Yeah, but you know me and computers."

"Yes, unless they're flying an aircraft, you don't get on with them."

"Strange . ." Rodney had been working on his computer as he been speaking.

"What's strange?"

"Well, who ever accessed the files hid his tracks very well."

"Does that mean you can't find out who did it?"

"Of course I can." Rodney bristled with indignation.

"Even stranger."

"What?"

"Well, the files were accessed from Carson's computer, using Carson's access codes."

"Is it possible it was Carson who accessed them?"

"Sorry, I left my crystal ball in my room."

"You're a genius," John reminded him sarcastically. "Guess."

"Well, if it was Carson, why would he hide his tracks?"

John had to nod in acknowledgement of that remark.

"Also, this was done by someone quite sophisticated. Carson managed to turn his computer on, tap in a few voodoo phrases and turn it off again. He couldn't hide his tracks like this even if he wanted."

"He was also fast asleep in his room at the time," Elizabeth added from the doorway. "I was just speaking to Dr Cole and she said Carson slept the whole night – like a baby."

"How does she know?" John still wanted to make sure they were dealing with a security breach and not just a workaholic medical doctor.

"They are still monitoring Carson in his room, in case he has relapse, and the readings remained consistent all night, and were completely consistent with a deep sleep."

"OK, now we know we've definitely got a problem." John chewed a finger nail as he contemplated this.

"Could someone have gone into Carson's room?" Rodney looked at Elizabeth inquisitively.

She shook her head. "No, the monitors would have shown if someone else was in the room as well."

"Then what the hell is going on?"

oOoOoOo

Carson sat in his room, trying to force his battered mind to remember something, anything, of the past 6 hours. But there was nothing. No recollection of having done anything; seen anything; heard anything.

And yet he had no sense of having slept, or even rested. There was just nothing!

He was so deep in puzzlement that he didn't hear the door chime. The second chime was accompanied by an irritated Rodney shouting through his ear-piece.

"Carson, will you open this door."

As the door slide open, Rodney continued his tirade.

"Why didn't you let us in? What are you doing, sitting here in the semi-dark? Are you trying to avoid us? Are you hiding something?"

Carson flinched with guilt. Was he trying to hide something? He didn't know.

"Rodney!" Elizabeth's tone held reprimand. She placed a soothing hand on Carson's shoulder. "How are you feeling, Carson?"

"I'm doing fine, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth glanced at John and saw her own concern mirrored in his face. Carson looked far from fine. His skin was very pale, giving him an almost ghostly tinge. He sat slumped in his chair, his shoulders slumped as if the weight of the world was weighing him down. And his bright blue eyes lacked their usual sparkle. Instead, they were dull and lifeless, and tinged with fear.

"Carson, has anyone been in here, other than us?" It was Rodney who stepped right in, as usual side-stepping any social niceties.

"What do you mean?" Carson's eyes were now filled with puzzlement.

"Some confidential files were accessed last night," Elizabeth added by way of explanation. "We checked the computer records and they were accessed from your computer using your access codes."

"What files?"

"The classified personnel files."

"You know the ones only the four of us have access to." Rodney was trying to be helpful!

"Aye, Rodney. I know which ones you mean. But I've not been looking at them recently. And I most certainly wasn't looking at them last night."

"Was your computer here last night?" John asked.

"Aye, it's been here since before I took ill. And I've not used it since I recovered."

"And did anyone visit you last night?"

"Not after you left, Elizabeth."

"It's obvious someone is trying to cover their tracks," Rodney said, clicking his fingers impatiently.

"But how did they get my codes?" Carson asked.

"It is fairly easy to do if you really want to and your dishonest enough to break a few rules to get it."

They all looked at Rodney, rather shocked by his remark.

"Well, it would be easy for me, if not for you."

"Thank you, Rodney," John said ironically.

"You're welcome. Now I must get back to work. I need to track down who could have accessed those codes. By the way, Carson, you might want to change your codes and passwords. So our hacker can't use them again."

With those words, Rodney bustled out of the room, followed by John. Elizabeth lingered, giving her CMO an anxious look.

"Are you really fine, Carson?"

"Aye, love," he replied with a gentle smile. "After a wee bit of rest, I'll be as right as rain."

She gave him a smile, then taking the hint, left him to rest.

Alone, Carson sat looking at his computer, thoughtfully, worriedly. Could he have accessed those files during those missing 6 hours? For some reason, he'd felt an overwhelming reluctance to tell the others of his missing night. It wasn't just that he didn't want to worry them; or to be sent back to the Infirmary for observation. It went deeper than that. At some instinctive level, he didn't want anyone to know. And that worried him even more.


	5. Explosive Developments

_Sorry for the delay in posting this Chapter. RL and RSI both played their part. I've been very busy and have been having problems with both wrists and elbows. Hope you enjoy it even so._

oOoOoOo

The following morning, Elizabeth went to check up on Carson again. For some reason, despite the Scot's reassurances, Elizabeth was still worried about the doctor.

His room was empty, although it was obvious that Carson had been there in the fairly recent past. The mug of tea that sat beside his computer was still warm.

Elizabeth next headed for the Mess Hall where it seemed half of Atlantis was lingering over breakfast. It was one of those rare days when there was no emergency and few missions, and so her people were making the most of those few extra minutes of leisure.

But Carson was not one of them. She searched the area twice with her eyes, before she turned and left. She knew if she stayed any longer she'd be accosted by someone who had some earth-shattering problem for her to solve – well, earth-shattering in their eyes.

Eventually, she found him. It was the first place she would have normally looked for him, but it was the last place she expected to find him in the circumstances – he was in his lab.

He didn't look up from his microscope when she entered the room.

"Just put the samples over on the bench, lass."

"Carson, what are you doing?"

He started at the sound of her voice. He looked up, managing to combine a look of guilt with a look of defiance.

"Dr Cole has one of her migraines and someone needed to check some samples from the Athosians. Their children have been hit by a sickness bug. I couldn't let the wee bairns suffer when I could help them, now could I, Elizabeth?"

She knew he was doing it deliberately, trying to appeal to her heartstrings. But she couldn't help herself – she smiled.

"At this moment, it's your suffering that concerns me, Carson."

"Och, I'm doing fine."

She looked at him, the worried look still in her eyes.

"No, really, Elizabeth. Trust me, I'm a doctor."

Before Elizabeth could reply, a frantic voice sounded in their ears.

"Dr Beckett, you're needed urgently in the Infirmary."

Without looking at Elizabeth, in case she tried to stop him, Carson hurried towards the door. Elizabeth was only a step behind him, following his impatient dash to the Infirmary. The sight that met their eyes when they arrived was a cross between a war zone and a nursery.

All the beds were filled with children, Athosian children, who were alternately crying or emptying the contents of their stomachs into the basins held for them by nursing staff. In the middle of the organised chaos, Carson saw Jenny Martin. She still managed to retain her composure and somehow looked as pristine as she'd done first thing that morning when she'd reported for duty.

"Jenny, lass, what happened?"

"They all took a sudden turn for the worse."

"All of them?" Elizabeth looked shocked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." Jenny's eyebrows quirked with a mixture of amusement and frustration. "Welcome to the frustrating world of paediatric medicine, Dr Weir. Where one goes, the rest are sure to follow."

A laugh escaped Elizabeth's lips while Carson rewarded the nurse with a twinkled look.

"And what did you do with the rest of the kiddies?"

"We had to leave them at the camp." Frustration edged the nurse's voice. "We brought back the worst ones, and I left as many nurses with the others as possible."

Almost before Jenny had finished speaking, Carson was heading towards his office.

"Carson! Where are you going?"

"I need to get my equipment."

The two women exchanged an exasperated look.

"Carson," Elizabeth didn't manage to keep the exasperation out of her voice. "You can't go off-world. You don't have medical clearance."

"And who gives that clearance?" The Scot gave her a pointed look.

"You normally do, but this isn't a normal situation."

"Well, I feel as fit as a fiddle, and there's no-one else who can go."

Elizabeth turned a questioning gaze on the nurse who was still standing beside her.

"He's right, I'm afraid." Her face betrayed her reluctance.

"Come on, Elizabeth. We can't leave those poor wee kiddies all alone, and ill."

Before Elizabeth could respond, Chuck's voice came through their ear-pieces.

"Dr Weir, Dr Beckett. I've just had Lieutenant Callas contact us. She says they need further medical assistance ASAP."

"I'm on my way," Carson responded, meeting Elizabeth's eyes as he did so.

She gave him a faint nod as he disappeared out the door.

"I hope that was the right decision."

Jenny didn't reply.

oOoOoOo

Elizabeth was still pondering her decision two hours later when Rodney and John burst into her office.

"Where's Carson?"

Elizabeth stood, affected by the urgency in Rodney's voice.

"He's with the Athosian children."

"Right!" The scientist turned and started to march out of her office again.

"Rodney, where are you going?"

"To the Infirmary." His eyes held a faintly puzzled air. "You said Carson was with the Athosian children. The Athosian kids are in the Infirmary. So I'm going to the Infirmary." He spoke slowly, and clearly, as if he was speaking to a child.

"Carson's not in the Infirmary."

"Then where the hell is he?" John couldn't keep the impatience out of his voice. Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged an apology.

"He's gone to the Athosian camp to care for the children there."

"Damn!" John's fist thumped into her desk.

"Are you going to tell me what the problem is, or do you just plan to wreck my desk?"

"Someone used Carson's login details to access the computer again." Rodney held out his laptop for Elizabeth to study. "They were accessing mission records from various planets we've visited."

"They used Carson's security clearance to get access some sealed records." John's face looked sombre.

"What records did they check?" Elizabeth wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to that. John's face already told her as much.

"Everything on the retrovirus right from the Hoffians, to Ellia and everything about our experiments on Michael."

"Damn!"

"He's already said that," Rodney pointed out helpfully. "Several times."

"How long ago were the records accessed?"

Rodney consulted his laptop. "At 10:17 precisely. They were accessed from Carson's lab."

"Elizabeth, what's wrong?" John's concern echoed in his voice. Elizabeth's reaction to Rodney's information wasn't what he'd expected.

"Carson was in his lab at that time. I went looking for him at around 10:20 and I found him in his lab about 10 minutes later."

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure."

"Damn!" The two leaders turned to look at Rodney. He just shrugged.

"Dr Weir!" Chuck came running into Elizabeth's office. "We've just heard from the Athosians. There's a problem."

"With Carson?"

"How did you know?" The Gate technician looked puzzled, and slightly in awe of the leader.

She smiled at him, but her eyes showed her concern. "Just a wild guess."

"There's been an accident at the ward where the children were being treated."

"What happened?"

"Halling said there was some sort of explosion. They are investigating its cause."

"And Carson?" If Chuck hadn't heard the anxiety in Rodney's voice, he'd have seen it in the way the scientist's hands were wringing together.

"He was caught by the blast, and the part of the building he was in collapsed. They're trying to mount a rescue operation at the moment, and they asked if we could help."

"I'm on my way," John said, before Elizabeth could say anything. Although she nodded her agreement, neither John nor Rodney noticed. They were too busy running towards the Jumper Bay.


End file.
